


Iron and Fire

by ArSommers



Series: The Tale of the Bear and the Dragon [9]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Iron Throne - Freeform, Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23419567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArSommers/pseuds/ArSommers
Summary: ["The Tale of the Bear and the Dragon", Book 9] Daenerys enters King's Landing. Upon Daenerys' arrival at the Red Keep, she makes a most unexpected decision.
Series: The Tale of the Bear and the Dragon [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1381999
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

As Daenerys walked through King’s Landing, she was aware of a million eyes boring into her. Some were filled with anger that war had been brought back to their doorsteps, while others were grateful that the Lannisters were finally going to be overthrown. But mostly the new Queen felt fear emanating from her people, fear that the Targaryens were back.  
“I will not fail them,” Daenerys thought, “Not like the previous generations of my family,”  
Daenerys was grateful that the townspeople, for the most part, had stayed in their homes as she passed through. If they had come out, they would have seen her eyes were red from crying. But she’d already shed all the tears she had at the time over the loss of Jorah. Daenerys knew she had not run out, and she knew when she was alone that night she would be wrought with a new wave of sadness. But until then, it was the time to think in terms as a Queen who was about to meet her enemy face to face.  
Jorah had not been the only person she’d known who’d fallen. Upon learning they had secured the Red Keep, she’d also been informed that Grey Worm had died in combat with Jaime Lannister, but not before taking the Kingslayer down with him.  
“I want you to send a raven to Dragonstone informing Missandei of this,” Daenerys had told one of her scribes in private. “I do not wish for her to cling to a hope that he will return in a few months when he has already passed,”  
War had not spared the Red Keep. Just as when she’d been attacked in Meereen, signs of battle were apparent in rooms leading to Cersei, from overturned tables to the occasional body sprawled on the floor. This continued until they’d reached the tunnels where the Unsullied had found her.  
“She was trying to escape,” one of the soldiers said, “As if fleeing like a rat,”  
Daenerys observed at the usurper before her. Cersei appeared defiant, but Daenerys saw past thtis façade. Underneath she could tell the woman was on the verge of breaking; Daenerys had known the feeling all too well.  
The new Queen clasped her hands together. “It is a shame,” Daenerys said to Cersei. “In some respects I see myself in you,”  
“You don’t know a thing about me,” Cersei sneered.  
“No,” Daenerys admitted, “But I know you want power. This is what I seek as well. The difference is you have no claim to the throne, as you are not of the Targaryen bloodline. I, on the other hand, do,”  
“The people of Westeros hate the Targaryens,” Cersei said.  
“And there are others who hate the Lannisters,” Daenerys replied coolly. “But you see, this is another aspect where you and I greatly differ. You desire power for the sake of control. I seek it to better the Seven Kingdoms,” Daenerys narrowed her eyes. “There is a fine line between ruling with fear and love. I did not always understand that, but I see it now, just as clearly as I see you before me. I do not wish for control; I wish to free the slaves, and to bring justice where there is injustice, which is something you and your late husband King Robert failed to do,”  
“You can sit on whatever throne in the world you desire,” Cersei said evenly, “But it will never bring back your Jorah Mormont. Were it only that I’d sent assassins sooner to kill him before you could infect the world with offspring,”  
Daenerys slapped Cersei across the face. She hadn’t meant to; it wasn’t right, nor was it how nobility acted. But the emotional wounds she’d suffered on the battlefield were still actively bleeding, just as the dress she was wearing still bore Jorah’s blood.  
“You are not to speak of my husband,” Daenerys said furiously, “And you are not to even THINK of my daughter,”  
Cersei gave a cruel smile, relishing the fact she’d gotten under Daenerys’ skin. “So long as you call yourself a Queen, you will never be safe,” Cersei said. “There will always be someone who will want you dead,”  
“An unfortunate notion, but alas, you speak nothing new,” Daenerys said. “All my life there have been those who wanted to me dead. Better it be behind guarded castle walls where I can make the world a better place than running aimlessly around in the desert,”  
Daenerys turned toward the Unsullied. “Keep her in the dungeons,” she said, “With an eye on her at all times. She will look for any means to escape this castle, but I want her alive to witness this new era,”  
“Where will you be, Your Grace?” one of the Unsullied asked.  
Daenerys turned to the chamber entrance. “If I am needed, I will be in the Great Hall on the Iron Throne,”


	2. Chapter 2

The Iron Throne was just as imposing and majestic as Daenerys had dreamed it would be. The closer she walked to it the larger it became, the melded swords shining as bits of candlelight reflected off the steel. Daenerys ran her hand along one of the jutted-out edges. So old, yet still so powerful.  
“It’s yours now, Khaleesi,” Daenerys could imagine Jorah saying at the foot of the throne, “Not just because you deserve it, but because you earned it,”  
This thought weighed on Daenerys’ soul. Jorah was supposed to be in the Great Hall with her for this moment. Instead he was outside amongst the dead that were being collected.  
“No,” Daenerys thought. “Jorah is with me; he will always be with me. His words and love will guide my future actions,”  
“This moment should not be about me,” she imagined him saying. “It is yours, and yours alone, whether I am alive or not,”  
Daenerys returned her gaze to the throne. Then, carefully, she lowered herself into its seat.  
The Queen looked out into the Great Hall, imagining the room filled with people. She imagined the power a ruler must feel when looking upon an audience that reflected all of Westeros. It was no wonder both men and women had killed for it.  
Daenerys shifted in the seat, suddenly uncomfortable. As she did one of the swords near the bottom ripped at her coat, causing a tear near the hem. “That tear could have just as easily been on my skin,” she realized.  
The idea frightened Daenerys: not of how the throne could physically inflict damage, but how it could mentally and emotionally scar her. If she was not careful, it could disfigure her in cruel ways, turning her into something that she was not.  
The Queen stood and turned to stare at the throne made of a thousand swords of dead men. If this number wasn’t high enough, how many had died to make their way to this very seat? It was certainly more than history could count, and more than Daenerys cared to know.  
It was in that moment Daenerys decided the throne had to be destroyed.


	3. Chapter 3

“The Iron Throne cannot be destroyed,” Jon Snow said. “I understand your reasonings, and I agree that you should do it, but it is simply not possible,”  
“He’s right,” Lyanna Mormont agreed. “The throne was forged by fire from a dragon, and the dragons are no longer,”  
“Believe me,” Daenerys said, “The throne WILL burn,”  
Despite the misgivings from the people of the North, Daenerys ordered the Unsullied to upend and move the throne into one of the courtyards, placing a pyre around the steel contraption to control the flames. Once the pyre had been lit and the throne was aglow (yet untarnished), Daenerys dismissed them.  
“Do not come back until morning,” Daenerys told them. “On the morrow you shall find me here,”  
Once the Unsullied had departed and she was alone, Daenerys gazed upon the flames. They were warm and inviting, like an old friend.  
Slowly, Daenerys unfastened the necklace that held the three teeth of Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion, and placed them on stone steps a safe distance from the pyre. The cord that held the teeth together would easily come apart where she was going.  
Next, Daenerys began to undo the braids in her hair until only one remained. If she were truly to break the wheel of the monarchy in Westeros, she had to start with herself, removing all her previous victories until that day; while she had gained the throne, the loss of Jorah was also the loss of any other braids she’d considered herself worthy of.  
Then the Queen walked into the flames.  
Daenerys did not feel a white-hot burning sensation, but merely a pleasantly warm one. This feeling, as she knew all too well, was reserved for those of dragons’ blood alone.  
As Daenerys walked towards to the unyielding throne, she felt her clothes turn to ash; first the coat that had ripped, then the royal blue dress that was covered in Jorah’s blood. A single tear ran down Daenerys’ cheek at the thought of these disappearances, but the flames were quick to lick it away.  
As she walked closer, the throne began to melt.  
“Only dragon fire can destroy the Iron throne,” Daenerys thought as she placed her hand on the mollified steel, letting the it run slowly through her fingers, “And I am a dragon,”  
As Daenerys watched the throne dissolve before her eyes, she only uttered a single word: “Dracarys”.


End file.
